Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Victory is important, but Toronto still stuck on the 1-0 kind

Wednesday night Toronto FC demolished the Montreal Impact in every way other than the most important one, scoring. Chad Barrett scored the lone goal, a great shot that fans were hoping would be the start of our long awaited onslaught ...Instead it was a parade of breakaways that were thwarted, shots that just missed and posts that were hit (and grazed and hit and hit). Chad Barrett in particular should have had a multiple goal night. You give him credit for his work rate, his courage and his talent for breaking away from defenders. If TFC can just get Chad to put the ball in the net on 40% of his chances and Toronto would be cruising for the V Cup. As it stands two home victories has Toronto in the driver's seat, but the door is still open for one of the other teams to respond with two home victories as well. Then again the strong away form of TFC might indicate that they can close that door swiftly.Montreal was able to muster only a few long shots and half chances. Stephan Frei was steady and active, but he did not have to pull off one of his game saving spectaculars. Even in the late going, it was more a matter of worrying that Toronto would somehow find a way to mess the result up rather than a fear of Montreal amounting to anything. The Impact were down to 10 men for the last 20 minutes, so there was a minimum of offensive thrust from them. They did have a first half goal called back on an offside call, but that was about it. If that was a close call, what on earth was the yellow card on the Montreal foul well inside

Views from the upper deckThe experiment with Marvell Wynne as a midfielder was interesting but short lived as he came off injured very early in the game. That was Chad Barrett's opportunity, as he came off the bench.

To my mind, if you were not going to give the man of the match nod to the goal scorer, then Nana Attakora at right back was my guy. The above experiment with Wynne on the right wing of the midfield I think has to continue because Attakora has claimed the right back spot on the back line. Attakora worked as a central defender the past two games, but he excels out wide. He shows solid defending combined with speed and skill going forward with the ball. WowPablo Vitti has yet to score and for all his promise, I feel that time is running out on his chance. O'Brian White is waiting in the wings and once healthy he will have to be given some playing time. DeRo is not going to sit and both Barrett and Dichio can take turns providing the muscle up front.DeRosario played a strong game, a few times putting the ball through 2 Montreal defenders. In the first half he was well supported by Brennan, Cronin and Guevara. Second half it became more of a solo show. Brennan was staying back, Guevara was covering a lot of ground and Cronin had to be feeling the wear and tear of a physical game that seemed mostly aimed at him.What was that call late in the first half when it appeared that Toronto should have had a penalty call finally go their way ? When will TFC get their fair share of calls?There has to be a trade or a signing or a combo of the two in the months ahead. A vacant roster spot beckons and neither Rohan Ricketts or Johann Smith are getting playing time. Remember the two international players that Mo mentioned more than once ??